


Written in the Stars

by suitsflash (bikeross)



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, You can see what your soulmate is thinking, happy birthday Amie, shameless Olivarry fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 13:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12984807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bikeross/pseuds/suitsflash
Summary: The rarest human connection was the bond of a soulmate. Not many were gifted with that kind of power—and those that were, there was never a guarantee they would meet their soulmate. After all, the telepathic link before the initial contact would only come into effect during periods of high emotional turbulence.





	Written in the Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SwiftEmera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwiftEmera/gifts).



> MY DEAREST AMIE, Happy happy happy birthday. I adore you so much, sorry this is so late. I hope you enjoy it.   
> <3
> 
> AND MANY THANKS TO FOX (foxvii) FOR THE LAST MINUTE BETA  
> And Lace (steamlace) for helping me come up with a beautiful story :)

The rarest human connection was the bond of a soulmate. Not many were gifted with that kind of power—and those that were, there was never a guarantee they would meet their soulmate. After all, the telepathic link before the initial contact would only come into effect during periods of high emotional turbulence. There would be random spikes of emotions here and there, yes, but the defining characteristics of a true soul bond were feelings of ecstasy and despair. 

Oliver experienced the first real flash of an image when he was sixteen years old. While he was sneaking back into his house, after being out too late with Tommy, he suddenly felt a rush of fear. Debilitating fear. He cried out in pain and felt his knees buckle—hearing only the faint sounds of people trying to call out his name. 

He was trapped in a nightmare as he watched a woman—a redheaded woman with whom he felt a deep emotional connection—stabbed in front of him by a man in yellow. Oliver cried out—though it wasn’t in his voice. It was the voice of someone much younger. 

And just as soon as it happened, in a flash, it was over and he woke up in a cold sweat, his mother holding him tightly and his father on the phone calling an ambulance. 

A dozen or so tests later, Oliver got the news. He was Marked. 

Of course the news was accompanied by alarm, what had his soulmate seen? Oliver’s expression darkened and for the first time ever in his charmed life; he experienced devastating pain. 

—-

The first time Barry felt the emotional connection, he was twenty one years old and out on a run. Well. It wasn’t so much a run as it was Barry running extremely late to class. 

As he entered the lecture hall, an anguished yell seared in his brain and he was suddenly in the middle of the ocean with grief he had not felt in ten years when he lost his mother. 

And right then—Barry knew that he too was Marked. 

Much to his mortification, when he came to, the entire class was staring at him. 

“Sorry—uh. Charlie horse,” he said, pointing to his leg before he did a half shuffle to an empty desk. 

Professor Stein up at the front, nodded and resumed his lecture while Barry sprawled his legs out in front of him, trying to sink in his seat and disappear. 

—-  
The next few years, Barry experienced pain. His soulmate was suffering and he didn’t know what to do about it. 

His grades remained at the top of the class, but his heart—his mind were always somewhere else. By the end of the second year after his first experience, Barry became an expert on the experiences of those who were Marked. 

Barry looked for a way to reach his soulmate—to provide him strength and comfort when his soulmate, whoever it was, had none at all.

No one was more sympathetic than Iris, his best friend and first crush. 

When his visions of a tropical hell got too overwhelming, she was right there by his side, holding him and running her fingers through his hair. The same way his mom used to do before she was murdered. 

During a particularly bad one—watching someone that his soulmate loved die, Barry reached out with his mind and mustered up all the love and courage he could. And then—he felt it. His soulmate reached out to him. It was a feeling, but he could feel his love’s need. His loneliness. 

Barry smiled and turned to Iris. 

“My soulmate—it’s a man,” he said, the corners of his lips quirking up in a smile. It was nice—learning one thing about the man who was supposed to be the love of his life. 

“How is he?” Iris asked, compassion in her dark brown eyes. 

Barry shook his head. “Scared.” His eyes wandered down to the comforter on his bed, and he idly traced over the circled patterns.

There was nothing Iris could say to remedy the situation, so she remained silent, still comforting Barry. 

—

The first time Oliver’s soulmate reached out to him, he was watching Slade Wilson cradle a dead Shado in his arms. 

In the hull of the aircraft they called home, Oliver sat, turning the green vest over in his hands. 

Sara did her best to comfort him, she really did. But it wasn’t until he felt a little pang of joy in his heart, that Oliver realized his soulmate was doing the lion’s share of the comforting. 

He reached back, using his heart instead of questioning it. Nothing had ever felt more right. After all, his soulmate knew true grief. 

Over the next three years, they’d occasionally trade thoughts back and forth. Little flashes of their day as they learned how to control it. They could only communicate with each other during times of extremely heightened emotions, which, unfortunately in Oliver’s case was rather frequent. 

Every time Oliver felt close to giving up, his soulmate sent him strength. He knew that he could conquer the world. He could do anything as long as his soulmate was there. 

—

Barry felt elation, relief, and utter exhaustion one day when he went to bed. Out of curiosity’s sake, since it was the middle of summer and the most stressful thing he’d done all day was let Iris paint his nails, he flipped on the news. 

Billionaire Heir found alive on an island in the North China Sea. 

Holy shit, Barry realized, the remote dropping from his hands. 

His soulmate was Oliver Queen. 

—

Ever since he returned from the island, vowing to be someone else—something else, more often than not, Oliver’s emotions were all over the place. When he was the Hood, he was calm—collected. 

However; when he was simply Oliver Queen - a boy forced to grow up too fast and confront a conspiracy that threatened to tear his entire family into pieces - he closed his eyes and reached out to his soulmate and his soulmate responded with warm and fuzzy feelings. 

A part of Oliver wanted nothing more than to find the person who’d saved his life by giving him the final push he needed, however on the other hand, he wanted his soulmate to have nothing to do with the job he performed at night. No. That was not a life he wanted to give to the love of his life. 

Instead, he’d remain on task—finding everyone on the list. 

As he learned to school his emotions, he reached out less and less until—short of breaking the bond (an impossible task), Oliver finally stopped altogether. 

—

Barry, however, was a completely different story. He wanted nothing to do with whatever Oliver was doing. He understood, he probably didn’t have heightened emotions, but Barry felt like he’d lost a close friend. And Barry was not one to ever give up on someone. He worried after the bomb almost went off in Starling City that he’d lost his chance to find his soulmate altogether. 

But Oliver was alive. 

And Barry realized he’d had enough. 

Two things informed his next move: First the Hood was bringing justice to Starling City—if anyone would believe Barry about his mother’s killer, it’d be him. And second, he wasn’t going to let his soulmate off the hook anymore. He was going to find Oliver Queen and tell him the truth. 

Mustering up the courage, he took the train the six hundred miles to Starling City and showed up at the crime scene. There had been a recent increase in the number of strange phenomena, and this was just the tip of the iceberg. Barry had a feeling that whatever this was--it would lead to his mother's killer. 

At least, that's what he told himself. 

"Actually it was just one guy," Barry said in response to a question posed by an officer

It wasn't until a voice that was all too familiar to Barry piped up that he allowed himself to take a good look at his soulmate. 

"Do your parents know that you're here?" Oliver asked, eyebrows knitted together. 

It grated on Barry's pride a little bit. He was a grown man. However, he kept his smile bright and he decided that now wouldn't be a good time to tell him. If it ever was. 

Barry knew better than to meet his heroes. 

\---

As it happened, Oliver had an odd feeling about this--child who stepped onto the crime scene. 

Something in his gut told him that he knew this Barry Allen. 

So he had Dig research him, and Dig's research didn't reveal all that much except that there was no similar case in Central City--and Barry's entire reasoning for being here was a complete lie. 

He confronted him and felt a pang when Barry described the gruesome details of his mother's murder. 

Oliver's mind immediately jumped to the night he'd realized he'd been Marked, and he automatically dismissed that as a possibility. 

Though he found himself softening considerably in matters regarding Barry Allen. 

And then, he was poisoned. 

He woke to Barry Allen, Felicity, and Dig looking over him with concerned but relieved expressions. 

Once he was done reaming them out for spilling his secrets, he dismissed Barry with a curt thank you. 

He no longer cared if he knew him. Barry's life was automatically in danger as a result of knowing Oliver's identity. 

\--

Barry hated his soulmate. Well hate was far too strong a sentiment. But he hadn’t realized that Oliver Queen was a jerk wrapped around a layer of jerk. 

Even the slight thank you he received before he left wasn't enough to warm him to Oliver completely. 

Oh who was he kidding? He was head over heels with Oliver. 

And when the lightning struck, the one thought in Barry's mind as his consciousness began to darken--was that he should have told him. 

\--

Oliver's suspicions about Barry's role in his life were correct as soon as he felt a flash of pain the night of the particle accelerator explosion. 

And then. Nothing for nine months. 

\--

Nine months later, as Oliver stood on the roof of a building in Starling City, he felt Barry's presence before he announced himself, and he closed his eyes. Relief flooded his body. 

Barry was okay. 

"You know." Oliver pursed his lips. "You've known since you came here nine months ago." 

"Yeah," Barry replied. 

"It was you on the island." 

Barry ducked his head and the corners of his lips quirked up. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more." 

"You kept me alive, what more could I ask for?" Oliver asked, finally turning to face Barry. 

"I've spent my whole life searching for the impossible," Barry said, striding over to him, expression as earnest as ever. "I never thought I'd become the impossible." 

"So why come to me now?" Oliver asked. "Something tells me you didn't run 600 miles to say hi to a friend." 

"Soulmate," Barry corrected. 

Oliver's eyes closed before he released the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Soulmate," he repeated. 

"All my life I've wanted to be able to be more," Barry said, staring down at his feet. "Do more. And now I had the chance, and I screwed up--Oliver. I was chasing the bad guy and someone die--" 

He was interrupted by Oliver's lips on his--and Barry immediately latched on, kissing Oliver back with everything he had inside him, his arms moving to wrap around Oliver's shoulders. 

Oliver's hands moved down to Barry's hips and he held him close. "If you're going to do this," he said, before cupping Barry's cheek. "You're going to make mistakes. I've made mistakes. But the good you do will far outweigh the bad." He lifted his hand to cup Barry's cheek and a smile began to form on Oliver's face. 

Barry's expression caused Oliver pain. It was so full of desperation--hopelessness. "What if Wells is right? What if I'm not a hero? What if I'm just a guy who got struck by lightning?" Barry asked, his head dropping to Oliver's shoulder. 

Oliver's eyes closed and he carded a hand through Barry's hair. "I don't think that bolt of lightning struck you," Oliver said and immediately Barry's head popped up. Oliver placed a gloved fingertip on Barry's lips and gave him a look that indicated he wasn't done yet. "I think it chose you." 

"Oliver, I'm just not sure I'm like you," Barry argued. 

Oliver shook his head. "No," he said. "You're not. But you can be better," he said before leaning forward to kiss Barry again. "Because you can inspire people in a way that I never could--watching over your city like a guardian angel, making a difference saving people in a flash."

Barry's eyes finally began to light up again and Oliver felt his own chest beginning to burst with affection for his soulmate. 

"One thing," Oliver added, a mischievous smile rising to his face, "Take your own advice and wear a mask." 

Barry smirked before chasing Oliver's kisses with kisses of his own. "Cool," he said. 

"Cool," Oliver replied. 

And like that, Barry zoomed away. 

Oliver watched him go and he chuckled, shaking his head before he felt a whoosh of air and Barry returned with a bouquet of flowers, handing them to Oliver. 

He then zoomed back away and there was a card attached to the bouquet which said, in Barry's messy scrawl, Dinner? Big Belly Burger Starling? 8pm Friday? 

Oliver rolled his eyes and made a note to cancel anything he had that day. 

He had a date with his destiny.


End file.
